Industrial espionage

I've always wanted to do that!Spying: one of the most glamorous and dangerous jobs in the
world.But not all spies work for their national governments.Some of them are out there trying to
improve their companies' chances in the business world.Industrial Espionage is the term used to
describe the activities some companies use to get ahead in business.Of course, it can be illegal but
'All's fair in love and business', right?Industrial spies sometimes use the simplest methods to get
information about their rivals'' products: they simply buy one of the products and take it apart in
order to see how it works.This process is known as 'reverse engineering'.Once they've done that
they can try to make a similar product that they hope will be able to make them some money.This
is fine if you're not worried about trying to be the first company to release a product.But some
companies have pushed the limits of industrial espionage by using methods similar to their
counterparts in national espionage organizations in order to get their products to the marketplace
before the competitors.Sometimes companies steal the plans for new products and reverse
engineer the plans so that they can release their products first.Can these methods ever be used
ethically?'Value engineering' is used by companies who want to cut costs and improve their
products.A company's existing product is reverse engineered and examined by company
employees.They try to find parts of the product that can be modified in order to reduce costs or
improve performance.The basic function of the product should be retained but extra parts of the
design that don't add to its functionality or which cost too much are analyzed and, if necessary,
are removed.As they say, 'Knowledge is everything' and this maxim applies to business as much as
any other part of life.